Little Fish
by Duskspiral
Summary: One fearful apprentice. One dark tunnel. One danger up ahead. There's no escape.
1. Chapter 1: Deal

**Hello everyone. Just so you know, the chapters are meant to be very short. Oh, and please review! It's very much appreciated. :3**

Chapter one: Deal

"Hello?" Shadowpaw walked down through the dark tunnel, glancing around anxiously. "Somebody?"

He was dead for good, he was sure of it.

He could hear the echoing drip of water, and a growl up ahead…

Shadowpaw backed away from the sound, wincing as he did. "No," he whispered. "Let me live…"

Memories flashed into his head, and he blinked.

《~Memory~》

"What are you trying to say?" Shadowpaw asked, eyes widening.

Wrenpaw's lips curled in an evil grin that could become a nightmare. "You go down in the tunnels and prove to me you're not a coward, or you stay here and prove you are and I'll taunt you for the rest of your life," he meowed, gesturing to the tunnel.

Shadowpaw gasped, staring into the darkness. He couldn't go down there. He couldn't…

Raypaw watched him with begging eyes at the side, and Shimmerpaw blinked in curiosity. What would he say?

He turned back to Wrenpaw. But he had to prove he wasn't a coward and that he fit in.

The pressure pounded inside Shadowpaw's skull as he contemplated this decision. To do or not to do. Simple? Hardly.

Laughs of cats echoed inside his head. Shadowpaw took a step back, trembling.

"Decide, coward!" Wrenpaw snarled. Shimmerpaw seemed fairly amused.

Fear danced through him at the thought of not seeing the sun, the tunnel pressing up against his side where there was nowhere to run. The darkness, suffocating him.

"Okay, I'll go down!" Shadowpaw whimpered, "I'm not a coward! You can't even prove it."

Wrenpaw laughed. "You sure? Come guys, let's leave this weak kitty."

He and Shimmerpaw left, laughing, but Raypaw stayed behind.

"Go into the tunnels!" she hissed. "For me! There's no backing down, you've got to show my brother-"

"I can't!" Shadowpaw wailed. "It's too much."

"It's fine, believe me," Raypaw snorted. "The darkness isn't scary. Even with your life." She said it passively, but it was a big deal to him.

Shadowpaw's fear turned to rage in an instant. _Really? What does she know, anyway?_ "What do you know about _my_ life?" he snarled.

Raypaw took a step back, surprised. "I meant - uh…" Her awkwardness was evident.

"Shut up!" Shadowpaw snapped. "I don't want to hear it!" He turned around and started running, ignoring Raypaw's calls.

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**Responding to reviews for Fire: A Time Jumping One-Shot.**

**Thank you, IncD! Glad you think that.**

**Lol. Yes I did, I****v****ystorm****. And you'll see more writing from me in the future! The thing was, I was already writing, just not publishing. I've already got two complete stories, another one-shot, an OC submit and some other stories I'm working on just lying around. I literally wrote Fire: A Time Jumping One-Shot in less than an hour. So you could say I just wrote it to test out the site before I actually published anything.**

* * *

**Please visit my profile! I have a poll going on right now until January first.**


	2. Chapter 2: Decision

**Thanks for reviewing, IncD! And just a quick warning for you all - it's going to get violent. Not this chapter, but future ones. **

**Also, I have a poll on my profile closing January first. This is going to decide what genre of story I'm going to make. It will be two genres, and it will be hand-drawn from the top five choices. So go vote!**

Chapter two: Decision

Shadowpaw's heart beat loud in his chest like a booming drum. The darkness seemed to curl towards him.

_Okay, this was a stupid idea…_

《~Memory~》

He had wanted to avoid the white she-cat, but it seemed not to be an option. His mentor told him to hunt alongside her, and he strongly disapproved of that idea.

"Shadowpaw, let's go to the Giant Elm," Raypaw mewed.

Shadowpaw shifted on his paws, staring at the ground as he walked beside her.

The grass was a brownish-green at this time of moon, he had noticed. But at this point, it seemed more red.

"Talk to me," Raypaw snapped suddenly, stopping in front of him, fur bristling.

Shadowpaw felt his ears burn in anger as he lifted his head. _I'm not talking to you. _

He tried to push past her, but she stopped him. "Are you okay?" she asked, annoyed.

Shadowpaw let out a hiss, meeting her gaze. "Of course not! You don't know a thing about me. You don't seem to want to know either! It's all about you, apparently."

Raypaw blinked, then replied, "Shut up, Shadowpaw. I'm apologizing."

He let out a hiss. "You can't apologize."

Raypaw sighed. "I'm apologizing," she repeated. "Sorry. You're right - I don't know anything."

"I'm not going to forget what you said!" Shadowpaw snapped, speeding up to walk ahead of her. "But whatever. Sorry I guess."

"For what?" Raypaw asked blankly. "What do you need to say sorry for?"

Shadowpaw didn't respond as he walked towards the Giant Elm. Why did she need to talk to him, anyway? It didn't matter.

He felt his anger subside a bit. It could be hard to stay mad at her for long because there was something about her… she was just so… he couldn't explain it.

"Let's just hunt," he sighed. Less time spent with her the better.

**I hope you like it! And if you don't - that's okay. But you should still consider sticking around for the third chapter. It adds a lot more backstory.**


	3. Chapter 3: Yellow Eyes

**There's a poll on my profile! Please go vote! **

Chapter three: Yellow Eyes

Yellow eyes glinted from ahead. Yellow eyes that caused a volcano of fear to erupt inside of him.

These eyes… they scared him even more than if the eyes were any other colour.

Shadowpaw sweeped his whiskers from side to side, but the walls of the tunnel were surrounding him.

He panicked. He couldn't turn around and run.

《~Memory~》

The little black kit wailed. The air smelled like the monster's smog at the side of the Thunderpath.

"Mama, mama!"

A large black shape and a smaller shape, his size, were laying at his side.

"Why won't you wake up?"

The little tom kit butted her belly, whining. He felt hungry and tired.

"Mama? Why are you cold? Should I warm you up?"

He snuggled beside her, breathing in the milky scent of her soft fur.

"Please wake up, Mama, someone is coming!" He exclaimed as he heard something brush against the bushes. Then he saw yellow eyes.

**Sorry that it's short. It's just the way this is written. Usually I stick to a format of 1,000 words per chapter, but Little Fish works out better this way.**


	4. Chapter 4: Apologies

**Thanks KT-FeatherSage (Spongekit) for inspiring me to update this again! Don't worry, I've finished it, I just haven't been publishing the chapters.**

**Voila.**

Chapter four: Apologies

Soft footsteps. Glinting teeth.

_Save me!_

Shadowpaw backed away frantically from the creature. "Help!" he cried out, hopeless.

But that seemed to anger the fox even more.

《~Memory~》

"Shadowpaw, Shadowpaw!" Raypaw called, running over to him.

Shadowpaw turned around. "Raypaw? What is it this time?" There was an edge to his voice.

Raypaw flattened her ears. "You don't have to be mad anymore. I'm over it, Shadowpaw, and I've already apologized."

Shadowpaw grunted, sitting down. "What useless thing do you have to say to me now?"

Raypaw gave his ear a lick. "Oh, cheer up, would you? Anyways, Wrenpaw told me that you agreed to go into the tunnels, and you're going right now."

"What are you talking about?" Shadowpaw exclaimed, mouth gaping open. Normally Raypaw licking his ear would do the exact same thing to him, but Shadowpaw was shocked because he had to go underground.

Underground.

This instant.

t.

Raypaw let out a purr. "Don't pretend you don't have any idea. You go down there and prove to him you're not a coward!"

"I said no!" Shadowpaw lied. "Do I have to? There's some bad stuff lurking down there…" he remembered his deal with Wrenpaw. _"You go down in the tunnels and prove to me you're not a coward, or you stay here and prove you are and I'll taunt you for the rest of your life," Wrenpaw hissed._

Raypaw blinked. "No, you said yes. I was there, Shimmerpaw was there, we heard you."

Shadowpaw trembled. Just the idea made his bones cold. But he had to. He had said yes.

_"Okay, I'll go down!" Shadowpaw whimpered, "I'm not a coward! You can't even prove it."_

He turned away from her. "I don't think it's the smartest idea."

"It's brave," Raypaw corrected him. Her beautiful white fur shined in the sun rays and her green eyes were bright. She was beautiful. "For me, please?"

Shadowpaw flattened his ears. _If I don't do it, It'll make me look like a fool in front of her, _he thought.

He gulped. "Alright, fine." _But only for you._

"Great!" Raypaw chirped. "I'll show you where Wrenpaw is."

And so he followed her on trembling legs.


End file.
